Grilled Aging Beef

Okay, so the English name is a little strange. That’s normal. The attempted western style grilled aged “wagyu” (which just means Japanese beef, by the way) is quite tasty, though. It’s not actually western style, of course; the style is about the same amount off as the name of the restaurant. This is also quite normal. This venue is one of the many expensive izakayas that offer lunch specials of spectacular value (1000 to 2000 yen) when compared to their normal dinner prices (4000 yen and up). For this type of discount, I almost exclusively come here during the lunch hour.

One very Japanese item (very Japanese, the same way Japanese curry is very Japanese) is the “hamburger patty” which for some reason is seen as a western delicacy to many Japanese natives. This one was much better than others that I have tried; it used not-fully-ground up bits of steak scrap with a very dark rich onion gravy and a poached egg on top locomoco style. This gave it a nice steak-y mouth feel without being too overwhelmed by the onions (a typical ‘hamburugu steiki’ will be a mushy blend of ground chuck and onions — sometimes they seem like they are half onion). Each of the lunch sets come with a salad, a cup of onion soup, and a choice of rice or bread (cut into sticks and very lightly toasted). The grilled beef sets also get fresh ground wasabi (which goes really well with beef, incidentally), and a sour, salty sort of onion sauce. The greens on the plate near the beef are young wasabi greens (very similar to mustard greens but with a mild wasabi flavor).

With beer, wine, and a friendly boisterous atmosphere, this locale is definitely worth a visit if you feel like splurging (or just go at lunchtime).